Religion News: Jesus portrait aims to represent 1 million believers

Weekly religion column, with items on a Jesus portrait project, this week in religion news, a survey about churchgoers and more.

An artist who creates drawings made from dots is embarking on a project involving the participation of Christians across the globe, called The People's Portrait of Christ.

It will take 1 million dots to create the image of Jesus, according to artist David Ilan, who will draw each dot on the canvas.

Each dot in an Ilan drawing represents a real person. The drawing can only exist when people participate. In Dots For Jesus, a mission to attract enough participants by midnight Christmas Eve, each dot will represent a Christian.

To reserve your free dot, go to: www.DotsForJesus.com.

- Christian Newswire

Week in Religion

- On Aug. 20, 1858, Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.

- On Aug. 21, 1969, an Australian, Michael Dennis Rohan attempts to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

- On Aug. 24, 1456, the printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

Survey Says

A survey of nearly 5,000 people found that a majority of weekly churchgoers are women (53 percent).

Small groups that meet for prayer or Bible study and Sunday school programs for adults are also more likely to be attended by women.

Similarly, a majority of church volunteers (57 percent) are females.

- Barna Group

Good Book?

“The Goodness of God: Assurance of Purpose in the Midst of Suffering,” by Randy Alcorn

For those times when we’re wounded by broken trust, assaulted by disease, or victimized by evil — or when we’re crushed to see such things happen to people we love — Randy Alcorn offers something solid to hold onto.

In this book, we’re continually guided into a deeper glimpse of God’s loving ways and higher purposes — the very things we’re often most blinded to whenever we battle pain and anguish.

Alcorn avoids superficial or sentimental responses and instead presses forward boldly to explore all the troubling doubts and questions that agitate within us when we confront suffering and evil.

- Amazon.com

Get to Know …

Bishop T.D. Jakes founded The Potter’s House nondenominational church in Dallas in 1996. Since then it has grown from 50 families to more than 30,000 members, according to thepottershouse.org, making it one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation. Senior pastor Jakes is also a renowned spiritual speaker, author, musician and playwright. He has founded several companies and organizations to help poor children, former inmates and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Word

Fard: A Muslim term for an act that is absolutely obligatory. A Muslim who denies a fard becomes an unbeliever. – religioustolerance.org